A young child is sent from a far country to live with a relative in a gloomy old aristocratic pile. But there are dark mysteries concerning both the estate and the relative. In the course of solving them, the child brings a new understanding to both herself and her relative.From this outline of the story of The Secret Garden, it should be clear how similar it is to the better known book and film Little Lord Fauntleroy. Both are based on the immensely popular 19th century young people's books by British-American author Frances Hodgson Burnett, and both have been the subject of numerous theatrical, film, and television versions. Of the half dozen or so film/TV treatments, many feel that this 1949 version with Margaret O'Brien, Herbert Marshall, Dean Stockwell, and Elsa Lanchester is the best. The acting is very good to excellent, and the atmosphere of the old house with its ruined garden effectively conveyed. The screenplay is co-authored by Robert Ardrey, who later became well known as a popular science author for such works as African Genesis. An interesting feature of the film from a cinematic viewpoint is the sudden switch from black and white to color (as was done famously in The Wizard of Oz) to highlight the happier scenes.Though the film, like the book, is ostensibly for young people, it's one that can equally be enjoyed by adults. Of course it's sentimental, but this is the type of film where the sentimentality is the whole point: viewers who dislike sentimentality shouldn't be watching it.

This version of the classic children's book is truer to the story than the 1949 version starring Margaret O'Brien. Some liberties have been taken to shorten the period when Mary is the only child (or so she thinks) in the old manor, which helps the pace of the film (and avoids it starting to look too much like a ghost story to the uninitiated). The three child leads are excellent (and better matched to the characters' ages than the '49 cast) as is the adult supporting cast. I would have liked to hear more "Yorkshire" in the adult's voices (much emphasised in the book) but that might have required subtitles. The only part of the film that I felt was weak was the 'magic' ceremony with the torches, during which Colin 'summons' back his father. The whole scene seemed out of place and inconsistent with the children's backgrounds and earlier behaviours. The script writer should have stayed with the much subtler magic of love and longing - the core message, along with spring and rebirth, of the book.

What an ethereal child film it is! An adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's titular novel, and craftily constructed by Polish female director Agnieszka Holland with the sublime aids of DP Roger Deakins' transcendent cinematography (including some wondrous time-lapse shots), an equally unearthly score by Zbigniew Presisner, and a spiritually mollifying end- credits song WINTER LIGHT by Linda Ronstadt, THE SECRET GARDEN is a nonesuch in the realm of family movies.The said garden is located at Misselthwaite Manor in Yorkshire, England, where Mary Lennox (Maberly), a ten-year-old spoiled girl who recently lost her inattentive parents in India, now lives. Taken in by his uncle Lord Archibald Craven (Lynch) who has sorrowfully indulged in the loss of his wife since ten years ago an accident took her life (which actually happened in the garden, that's why Lord Craven ordered to close it forever), Mary is under rigid superintendency of Ms. Medlock (Smith), the stern housekeeper doesn't clearly doesn't care too much about her more than a thorn in the flesh. Mary is unhappy in her new environment, until she finds her aunt's garden, thanks to the guidance of a robin to show her the way (there must be magic involved!), at beginning, the garden seems dead, just like the solemn air in the hundred-room manor, with sporadic scream sounds from a young child which everyone dares not to mention. Holland has achieved a remarkable job to set the mood right, it is irresistibly captivating, even a tad spooky, which is reminiscent of the haunting ambiance in Jack Clayton's horror master work THE INNOCENTS (1961, 9/10). Soon, Mary discovers the secret behind the scream is from Lord Craven's 10-year-old son Colin (Prowse), who has been bed-ridden since he his premature birth (due to his mother's accident) and is treated as a fragile invalid ever since. Mary befriends with her new cousin, and she is destined to revive the garden and the family from the lifelessness which has been cloaking the entire place for too long.Kate Maberly is surprisingly laudable in her film debut to portray a young girl's leap from a sullen sport to an intrepid trailblazer in brining hope and wonder galore, harmoniously couples with the flourish nature's flow and fauna, what a natural chameleon she is! Her interactions with Heydon Prowse and Andrew Knott, who plays the farmer boy Dickon and can talk to animals, are much convincingly conveyed with an added layer of delicacy with both romance and jealous lurking around. Prowse also instigates a strong self-confidence rarely seen in a child actor in the confrontational scenes with Maggie Smith, their authority- juggling game may be a slip in the script, but certainly fun to behold in a movie as good- natured as this. Among the adults, Smith is breathtaking whenever she is on screen although she is playing her very stereotyped maiden calling card again, always something tender can be found under the harsh front. Whereas John Lynch solidly confers the peculiar 10-years lachrymal distress with adequate likelihood, which in a lesser hand, could be the weakest link in the fable. Made only two decades ago, now if we scrutinise the offerings pander to Generation Z, it is axiomatic that this film is a bona-fide gem beyond any comparison, particularly for its astonishing beauty created by its production team without the interruption of digitalised virtual reality and the unforced manner of how it imparts its positive messages on the viewers. A big bravo to the filmmakers!

I watched The Secret Garden as an 8 year old kid and then watched it in college one night. I loved it as a young kid and was surprised by how much I appreciated it ten years later. The story highlights the troubles and constraints faced by Mary Lennox, Colin Craven, and Lord Craven and how the garden helps break those constraints and fix the emotional and physical issues going on with the characters. The meaning can be interpreted in various ways but the meaning that stood out to me was that a child's undying curiosity and eagerness for adventure can have such a significant impact. It is certainly one of my favorite movies and has a great soundtrack as well. 10/10